Improvement in operating ordnance



Jj B. EADS'.

Gun-Carriage.

Patented May 3, 1864.

rllll IIIIII III Illu ILIIII l L I I I I I I l I I l l N.PEI'ERS, PHOTOL|1HOGRAFHER, WASHINISTON. D C.

vrJAi/IIIS B. EADS, or Sr; LOUIS, MISSOURI.v

IMPROVEIVIENTiN OPERATING ORDNANCE.

Speciicationforming part of Letters Patent No. 419,566, dated May 3,1864.

To all ugh/0m it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES B. EADS, of St.` Louis, in the county of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful improvements in the manner of operating heavy guns on vessels of war or land fortifications and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specification, and which may represent the side of a ship or the wall oi a fort or other fortification, with the gun shown in black lines as lowered for the purpose of being loaded in security to the gunners, and as shown in red lines elevated and ready to be run out of the port to be fired, said drawing being marked Figure l.

The nature of my invention consists in the useof a lever and a stationary arm in connection with a gun-carriage, which is made to raise and lower for the purpose of retaining. the muzzle of the gun in a horizontal line intersecting the center-of the vport-hole; and it further consists in the use of a second stationary arm or director for the purpose of returning the gun to a convenient level for loading when the gun is lowered below the port to be loaded.

Io enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same in connection with the draw- Ing.

The "gun-frame or platform A, on which the gun B and gun-carriage C are supported, and

upon which the gun and gun-carriage may be moved, is so made and arranged as that it may be raised or lowered at pleasure b y the direct or indirect application of steam or any other known power. "The object of raising the frame, gun, and carriage is that the muzzle of the gun may be brought into line with the port, so as to be readily run into or through a port but atrifle larger than the point of the gun itself; and the object of lowering the gun is that it may be brought into a place of safety to the gunners while it is being loaded.

I have shown the gun-frame A as united to slides D D, which move in grooves E E, but any other mechanism that will steady and supvport the gun-frame and its load while it is being raised and lowered would answer the purpose equally well, and I do not by any l means confine my invention to the mode shown,

as many modifications of it may be made.

To the arm or hanger F, which is suspended from the gun-carriage C, is pivoted a lever, G, the short arm or' which is connected to the breech of gun by the connecting rod or bar H, and the long arm of which vis free but carries a friction-roll, a, at its vextreme end. So also the short arm of the lever has a friction-roll, b, at its extreme end.

I is an arm projecting from the ships side or `fortification, and in such position as to catch the roller c in the end of lever G as it and the gun-frame are raised up. This stop? ping of the front end of the lever, which, owing to the superior weight of the breech of the gun aft of its trunnions, is more elevated than its rear end, raises up the breech of the gun into a level, or nearly so, position, and keeps the muzzle of the gun in a horizontal line intersecting the center of the port-hole J, and when the gun-frame is elevated to the proper height, which may be dened by a stop of any kind, the guircarriage C and the gun B upon it may be run forward, 'the point of the gun taking the port-hole .I and fitting it nicely and closely;

The gun may be moved by steam, as shown in other patents heretofore granted to me.

When the gun has been iired and is to be reloaded, the carriage and gun are moved back upon the gun-frame, and then the gunframe and its load is lowered down. In descending, the breech of the gun, which is heavier than the point of it, falls faster than the point 5 but when the friction-roll b in the short arm of the lever takes against thel sta tionary guide or director K, the breech is prevented from descending farther, but the point comes down until the gun is about level, and then it and its carriage may be run forward until the gun protrudes through the opening L for the purpose of loading it. Of the two pieces or parts I K, I have called the former an arm and the latter one a guide.77 When the gun is run out or in to be fired or to be loaded, one or the other of the rolls a b moves upbn one or the other of these two pieces I K, and in connection with this funcvtion they may be called ways77 or slides7 A modication of my invention as just described may be made by securing the fulcrum of the lever G to the platform by the arm F, or by any other suitable means, instead of to the gun-carriage. The connecting rod or bar H, instead of being attached to the breech of the gun, Will have on its upper end a horizontal guide-bar attached to and moving up and down with it, upon which the breech of the gun Will rest. This guide-bar will be of suiiicient length to support the breech, Whether run out of the port or back, and Will be so guided as to remain horizontal. The breech can be supported upon it by means of a short arm secured to the gun, and projecting far enough to rest on the guide-bar, and as the gun is run in or out this arm will rest and move back and forth on it, While the lever G with its connecting-rod Will not move back or forth, but only up and down With the platform or gun-frame. By this arrangement the movable guidebar or slide on the connecting-rod H performs the functions of both I and K, suitable permanent stops being placed to arrest the ascent of the long arm of the lever and the descent of the short end of it, Where the guide-bars I and K are shown on the drawing. v

Having thus described my invention, what I claim isl. The use of the lever G and the Way or slide I for the purpose of retaining the muzzle of a gun in a horizontal line intersecting the center ol" the port-hole while the gun is being raised or lowered for the purpose of aiming it. p

2. The use of the stationary guide or director K for the purpose of returning the gun to a convenient level for loading.

-3. The devices as substantially herein described.

JAS. B. EADS.

Witnesses:

D. W. VAN HOUTER, GHAs. H. TILLsoN. 

